Info overload

I've been trying to put way too much into my brain lately and it's not a very good storage device.

I learned a little how radio telescope arrays work: You have multiple telescopes and move them around to create a circular patch of information in the sky. In most situations they use the earth's rotation to move one and keep one stationary (for a two telescope setup). That does some of the work, but they have to move it afterwords to get a bigger patch of the sky.

I learned that JPL (Jet Propultion Laboratory) doesn't do anything with jets or propultion. The name originated from it originally being used for these purposes around the 50's, but now it is really just full of labs, research, and spacecraft assembly.

I got to see the mission control center today. It's not as big as Houston's, but it's still pretty cool. It is the control center for a lot of things, but the only one I remember is Voyager. I had heard before, but didn't really grasp it, how Voyager has a record on it for any intelligence that may intercept it. It is a gold record encased in gold too. The case has instructions in binary on it about how to play the record. The timing is in relation to the spin of an electron in hydrogen... or something like that, I don't remember, nor do I know much about hydrogen atoms. But apparently an intelligent civilization could figure this out. If they found it. If they have eyes. If they see in visible wavelengths. It's still cool anyway, to have an artifact, from our species and planet, flying into the depths of space. It has people talking in many languages, songs from all over the world, and pictures that I guess you can somehow exctract.

It's the end of my second week and I already feel like I've learned so much... and so little at the same time. I've learned a lot more than I previously knew, but I also know I have a lot more to learn. It's really an amazing experience, I don't think this blog is doing it enough justice.